When life gives you broccoli
by The Tremulous Raptor
Summary: When life gives you broccoli, you eat them, grow tall and stop whining. Of course that's only a metaphor, but a nice distraction when you don't want to focus on dead people, absent mothers and sadistic babies urging you to take over the world...
1. Jam and bananas

"Now, you remember to come straight home after school to greet your nanny, alright?"

Nicky made an exasperated sound "Why do I need a nanny when I'm fifteen years old?"

Her mother kissed her on the forehead and smiled "because I want my cute little duckling to be safe."

She then picked up her suitcase and smiled again "and leaving you alone at home for two months is not my idea of safe" She winked at her daughter who couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips.

"Have a nice trip mom, be safe."

Her mother blew her a last kiss "Thank you honey. I promise to bring souvenirs!" And with that, the cheerful woman was out the door, heading for the taxi that was waiting for her.

After the car had driven away, Nicky let her waving hand fall down to her side and after a couple of seconds she went back inside the house, making her way to the kitchen. She had woken up earlier than usual in order to see he mother off and still hadn't had any breakfast.

Ravaging through her fridge, the fifteen year old made a mental note to go grocery shopping soon while she took out leftover fish and pasta, mayonnaise and orange juice. Ten minutes later she had made a yummy looking meal and was just about to sit down and eat when a knock sounded on her front door "It's open!" She yelled before sitting down, already knowing who it was at the door.

A few seconds later, a familiar mop of chocolate brown hair entered the kitchen.

"Good morning" her childhood friend, Oliver greeted with a bright grin- one which Nicky easily returned "Good morning," She greeted back before remembering her food "Would you like some?" She gestured towards her breakfast "there's enough for two."

She missed the look of disgust on her friend's face before he politely refused. She shrugged and dug in while he moved to sit down at the dinner table, across from her.

"Has your mom already left?" he asked while propping his elbows on the table. She nodded in affirmation "Not so long ago, actually. You just missed her."

"Oh."

"Sowwy" She tried her best to look apologetic despite her stuffed mouth. Oliver smiled and waved a hand dismissively "She'll be back soon anyway."

"Yeah, in like two months…"

Oliver moved to the kitchen cupboards and took a glass out "You won't even notice she's gone, I bet," he told her reassuringly as he poured himself some water and sat back down "besides, you know you can always come over if you need some company- the guest room is still yours"

She smiled halfheartedly and then turned back to her food.

O.O.O.O

"So when's the babysitter supposed to be here?"

"It's a nanny, not a babysitter…"

"It's the same, isn't it?"

"No it's not, and he's supposed to be here around five."

"It's a guy?"

"That's what mom said, at least."

They were currently on their way to school, Nicky sitting at the back of Oliver's bicycle- an old routine they had kept up ever since Nicky's bicycle had been stolen in grade school. Even though she had gotten a new bicycle long ago, neither of them had suggested her riding it to school.

They arrived at the school grounds ten minutes before classes would begin and Nicky waited while Oliver locked his bicycle. They weren't in the same class but their classrooms were right next to each other so it was only natural for them to go there together.

When the bike had been locked, the teenagers got ready to head to the school building but froze when they saw a group of guys crowding around a single girl. She was very pretty; long blonde hair, blue eyes, slender frame…big boobs. Nicky could definitely see why guys were crowding around her.

The girl however, did not seem to like the attention she was getting if the wrinkles on her forehead was anything to go by and Nicky made a move to get a little bit closer in order to hear what was being said, completely ignoring her childhood friend's protests- in fact, she didn't even hear them.

"Why are you being so stubborn, it's just a kiss."

"Let me go, you gorilla!" Only then did Nicky notice the grip one of the guys had on the girl's slender arm and she furrowed her brow.

"Let her go!"

Nicky was surprised when instead of her own voice echoing through the grounds, there was Oliver's. She closed her mouth and looked at her friend who then walked past her and headed towards the group of delinquents.

Unconsciously, she was following him, something heavy settling in her stomach when she hoped a fight wouldn't break out. If it did, Oliver most probably wouldn't be the start of it because he knew Nicky hated fights, but that didn't mean he wouldn't get beaten up- and frankly, she hated that even more than seeing him fighting.

They stopped only when they were right next to the girl, Nicky grabbing a hold around the girl's wrist as soon as Oliver had yanked the delinquent's hand off her.

"What the fuck, you prick!" The guy's arm reached out only seconds later to grab onto Oliver's collar. Her friend didn't do anything except hardening his glare and Nicky watched in horror as the guy drew his other hand back, preparing for a punch. Before she knew it, Nicky had pushed the girl back and launched herself at the delinquent's arm, just before it collided with Oliver's face, and clung onto it as if her life depended on it. She wasn't even aware that she had wrapped her legs around the guy's waist in the process.

"What the- Get the fuck off, midget!"

Despite her freaking out, she still felt her eye twitch at that name and resolved to hold on tighter. Before she knew it someone had snaked an arm around her waist and was trying to pull her off his buddy. She had forgotten about the rest of the guys who had been there as well.

"Hey, let her go!" Oliver, her knight in shiny armor, had been released from the gorilla's hold and was now trying to pull the three guys off of her. When had they become so many?

Not even sure of the actual situation anymore, Nicky kept holding on, utterly confused.

"The fuck is going on here?"

For some reason, everybody stopped moving and all sound seized to exist. The voice hadn't even been yelling but there had been some sort of an authority in it that made everybody stop.

Looking in the direction the voice had come from, Nicky quickly noticed the guy with fiery red hair standing just outside the circle of mess they had become. A shiver went down her spine when amber eyes rested on her and she wasn't sure whether it was because of the intensity of the glare or because she knew who he was and it scared her.

His name was Kyle Arch, and he was the leader of the school's delinquents. Everybody knew who he was and there were a million rumors going around about his short temper and ruthlessness. Pretty much every normal student made it their goal to not ever get his attention or at the very least to never get on his bad side.

Judging by his glare and clenched fists, she was well on her way of going there.

"I said; what the fuck is going on here?" He said through gritted teeth and Nicky gulped. Loudly.

"Leader, wait…" Nicky almost snorted when the gorilla began talking. He actually called him _leader_? And why did he seem so nervous? Wasn't she and Oliver the ones in danger here?

"How many fucking times do I have to tell you guys to leave the girls alone?!"

A silence met that question and you could have almost heard a needle being dropped. Was the guy blushing? Because it sure as hell looked like it.

"Ah, no- you don't understand! We were just-"

"Let her go."

Was he referring to her? Because she was pretty sure she was the one holding onto the gorilla and not vice versa. That was when she felt the hands grabbing onto her sweater and remembered the other guys who had been there.

As if they had been burned, the guys let go off her and she blinked once at them before looking back at the guy who still didn't look any less angry.

Before anything else happened, the thick atmosphere was cut when the school bell rung. Faster than her eyes could see, Oliver had bounced forward and grabbed her, slinging her over his shoulder before he ran away, towards the school entrance.

It was a very uncomfortable position but instead of thinking about the pain she felt in her ribs every time they collided with Oliver's shoulder, she looked straight ahead at the guys they had left behind. It was only then she remembered the girl that had started the whole scene and felt relieved when she saw that she was gone.

A few moments later they were inside the school and were hurrying to the second floor where their classrooms were located. Oliver had thankfully put her down as soon as they were inside and he had at first demanded that they'd go to the nurse's office- something which she stubbornly refused because a) she did not want to be late for class, and b) she wasn't even hurt in the first place.

The rest of the way, her childhood friend had scolded her about getting in the way and not leaving this to him 'especially because she hated fights', and asked her what he should tell her mother- which resulted in him receiving a raised eyebrow because why the hell should he tell her mom anything about this?

Before long, they were in front of their classroom, waving each other goodbye before walking in to start their lessons.

O.O.O.O

The day had passed surprisingly uneventful after their morning ruckus and Nicky had been relieved not to see any of the delinquents all day. She wouldn't have minded meeting the girl again though, if only to make sure she was alright after the harassment.

When the last class was over, Nicky headed out to the bus stop that was a few minutes' walk away from school. Oliver had club activities so they couldn't go home together. She had decided to restock on her groceries before going home to greet her new nanny which shouldn't be there until after an hour or so- meaning she should just make it to town and back home in time. Barely.

While she walked through the streets, shopping bags in hands, Nicky found herself thinking of this new nanny of hers. She knew next to nothing about him except that he was of the male species and an old friend of her mother. Not a name, picture, description- nothing, nix, nada.

Of course that was extremely uncomfortable for obvious reasons. What if, say, her real nanny was kidnapped and then replaced by a fake one- she would never know!

Of course, there were no chances that would actually happen. Despite her being an alright behaved girl, she was sure babysit- er, nannies wouldn't be fighting over her. The thought was amusing, though.

A little over an hour had passed when she made it to her house. It was a cute, blue, two story building. It looked smaller than the neighboring houses, but to her it was still huge- especially so for only two persons. Or one and a half, really, because her mother travelled _a lot. _

This was actually the first time Nicky had been left alone at home while her mother went on her regular business trips. Before she had always stayed with Oliver, but that had been because her mom had only been away for two weeks top. This was longer than she had ever been away and Nicky missed her just thinking about the two months awaiting her alone. Alone with some stranger nanny.

Shaking her head in attempt to rid herself of all depressing thoughts, Nicky stepped up to her front door and was about to open it when she remembered she didn't have her keys.

Her nanny should be here any minute now and she was locked outside. Beautiful.

Muttering curses under her breath, she made her way to the back of the house. They still had a pet door from when they had a dog a few years back- she should be able to push herself through it somehow. The problem was that she didn't have much time.

Putting the bags carefully aside, Nicky got on all fours, really wishing she had skipped lunch today. A cheese sandwich with jam, bananas and chicken, however good tasting, had her feeling full for _hours_ after eating it.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Nicky took a deep breath before sticking one hand through the miniature door, followed by the other. After a bit of crawling and pushing, Nicky managed to put her head through but not without hitting her head in the process.

Hissing and cursing, Nicky was determined to make it the rest of the way, if only to win over the evil midget door that insisted on stopping her plans of getting inside her house.

Suddenly, she stopped. Had she just heard footsteps? As in, footsteps from inside the house? Impossible; that would be way too many coincidences for it be funny. She does not lock herself outside just before her nanny arrives while a thief is breaking into her house and she's stuck in a pet door. It would simply offset the nature laws.

Looking up to make sure, because one could never be too sure, Nicky's heart stopped beating for a moment when her eyes met purple ones. And then her heart began speeding and she screamed.

* * *

A/N:

And there goes the first chapter of my first story. Thank you for reading it!

All reviews would be greatly appreciated because I'm a noob in a dire need of constructive feedback.

Do you hate the idea of no canon characters? Do you love it? What do I lack and what did I do well? What did you have for breakfast?

I strongly felt Ryohei's presence when I wrote 'extremely' in this chapter. He just flashed into my mind and it was **EXTREMELY **funny!

**Fun fact of the day: **Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

-Rexx


	2. Brats and mustard

After having screamed her lungs out, Nicky closed her mouth shut, teeth clashing. The man in front of her looked just as terrified as she probably did.

Looking him over, because really what could you do when you were stuck in a pet door, Nicky noted the man's tall but slender build and sandy brown hair. He was wearing very fashionable clothes- a white dress shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. Maybe not _fashionable_, but she was pretty sure that guy could rock a plastic bag if he wanted to. He was hot.

"….Are you Nicky?"

Her eyes grew bigger. This wasn't a normal, random burglary- he knew who she was!

She began thrashing around in the mini door, ignoring the pain on her hips and focusing on getting the hell away from the Greek God who was definitely bad news. It didn't take a whole lot of calculation to figure that out- there was a man who had broken into her house and knew her name. Was she going to get kidnapped?

"No wait, please don't freak out!" _Like hell I won't! _Despite the man's efforts, Nicky thrashed around even more.

"Please, rela-" A snort disrupted his sentence, which made the fifteen year old stop completely. Looking up, Nicky's eyes grew bigger when she saw Mister McHandsome clutching his stomach while shaking. She would have thought he had suddenly gotten constipated if she hadn't heard him actually laughing. Really trying to hide it, what with his one hand covering his mouth and all, but she knew a laughter when she heard one. The man was outright laughing at her. The jerk.

Finally, the man seemed to have gotten his mood swings under control and he looked at her again. Although he snorted once more, he didn't completely lose it like before. He smiled at her and any normal girl would have blushed, because a) the man's teeth were so white, it would shame any other person for simply not having teeth as white as those, and b) a beautiful face like that, plus a dazzling smile would K.O. anyone.

Who was she kidding- she was a normal girl and dammit, it was normal for her to blush.

"I'm sorry for scaring you. My name is Tyler Edwin- your mother asked me to look after you while she was gone."

Silence was her answer. She wasn't sure how much time passed as they stared at each other but she needed time to gather her thoughts after that revelation.

"…My nanny?"

He nodded.

"I'm Nicky." This was harder than one would think.

He nodded again, smiling.

"…I'm stuck."

This time he didn't try to hide his laughter. Nicky waited until he finished, blushing in her embarrassment and frustration towards the situation.

A few moments passed before Tyler finally managed to compose himself.

"I'm sorry love, I'll get out of there, okay?"

Love? Never had she ever heard anyone call her 'love'. It felt nice, though. It didn't cause butterfly fluttering in her stomach like at the beginning of a crush- the guy looked to be a few years over his twenties anyway- but more like a warmth that settled over you when a parent tucked you in and kissed you on the forehead. It felt… Nice.

Nicky watched as Tyler took out a screwdriver- and yes, apparently it was completely normal to keep a screwdriver in ones' back pocket- and walked over to her.

"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you just go through the front door?" Tyler broke the uncomfortable silence that had settled over them while he worked on unscrewing the door.

"I'm training for the Olympics."

He chuckled which made Nicky smile. He seemed to be an alright guy.

"I was locked outside, actually."

"Ah, I see. So you decided to go through the pet door."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

He chuckled again. That's when she realized she hadn't asked the most important question.

"Wait, how did _you_ get inside?"

"Emily- your mom, gave me a spare key. I swear, I'm still adjusting to the fact that she's actually someone's mother…"

"Why is that?" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Her mother was the sweetest person she knew- although a bit childish at times, stubborn and useless at doing chores, she was an awesome mom.

Tyler paused for a moment and looked at her in thought. He then put the screwdriver down, apparently having finished unscrewing the screws in the door. "Never mind, I fear what she would do to me if she knew I talked ill about her to her daughter." He winked at her good-naturedly but she could see the underlying traces of fear on his face. Just what had her mother done to the poor guy in the past?

"Anyway, I've taken the pet door off the backdoor, try moving now."

Nicky moved further inside the house and was very relieved to actually get somewhere. She stood up and looked down. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this, then?"

She was referring to the small door that was still stuck around her waist. The pet door had been removed but not from her. Looking up at Tyler, she noticed his thoughtful look. A few seconds passed before he raised his index finger, "One second, I'm going to get something."

And he bolted down the hall, seemingly to the direction of the garage. He must have taken some time to look around her house in the time she was away, because he sure seemed like he knew where he was going.

A few moments passed before Nicky could hear footsteps again and she looked up to see what Tyler had gone to get.

Her face paled as she took in the sight before her.

Tyler, her new nanny, was standing approximately a meter away from her. Holding a _chainsaw_.

"Hold still, alright?"

How could the man sound so calm?! He was holding a chainsaw and holy shit, he just pulled the starter handle.

Instead of thinking any longer about how the situation could change so drastically, Nicky spun around and ran away. It was harder than one would think, what with a small door stuck to your hips.

"Wait, I'm not going to hurt you!"

_Says the guy chasing me with a freaking chainsaw! _Nicky thought as she continued to run for her dear life. She should have known the guy was suspicious. For one, he looked like a male supermodel. He had also been inside her house when she got home, carried a screwdriver in his pocket and sounded like he knew her mother, but so did everyone else in this neighborhood!

Never again would she trust strangers who claimed to be her nanny- if she ever did get a second chance, that is. As things were going, it looked like she was about to leave this world soon.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed as they ran around the house- her being slowed down by the pet door and him by the running chainsaw- but it must have been at least ten minutes, because when Tyler- if that was even his name- finally managed to corner her, it felt like her heart would explode from all the running before the chainsaw ever got the chance to hack her to pieces. She felt nauseous from the thought.

"Okay. Just stay still, okay?"

Tyler only seemed slightly out of breath which Nicky found extremely unfair as she was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

"Wait, just wait! Please don't do this-"

She was cut off by her own screaming when Tyler brought down the chainsaw. She brought her hands up to shelter her face- a survival instinct that wasn't going to save her life.

Seconds passed and Nicky could have sworn she was still breathing heavily. Dropping her hands slightly, she hesitatingly looked at Tyler who seemed to have a somewhat satisfied look on his face.

Following his line of sight, Nicky found herself looking down at herself. There was no longer any pet door around her waist. It now lay in pieces at her feet.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Realizing this was what her nanny had been going for the whole time, relief washed over her and she slumped down on the floor; her feet finally betraying her.

She hadn't known how scared she had been until she began sniffling.

"Wha- what's wrong, honey?"

"What's wrong?! I thought you were going to murder me, that's what!" She didn't mean to yell but neither had she been planning on crying. Seemed like her emotions were determined to make a fool out of her that day.

"You thought…?" Tyler looked down at the chainsaw in his hands and then back at her, all color suddenly drained from his face

Before she knew it, her nanny had her in his arms. She was still too emotionally unstable to actually get embarrassed at the sudden intimacy.

"I am so very sorry. I didn't think how this may have looked for you."

A few seconds passed before Nicky replied; "You're an idiot," It came out like something between a giggle and a sob.

O.O.O.O

"How old are you?"

"28."

"Where do you live?"

"Here and there. I travel a lot."

"Where do you know my mom from?"

"We… Went to school together"

That was a lie.

They were currently sitting on the couch in the living room, eating ice cream for dinner. After Nicky had managed to compose herself after her earlier life threatening (or so she thought) experience, she had remembered the food that was still waiting outside in their shopping bags.

While she restocked the fridge, Tyler insisted on fixing the gaping hole in the backdoor and before either of them knew it they had started talking about everything and nothing. Tyler was very easy to talk to and seemed to be willing to answer most of her questions, although he sometimes lied.

Nicky wasn't any lie detector, but Tyler was a horrid liar, so it was easy to tell when he didn't want her to know something and she usually just dropped the subject there and continued on with the next question.

"My turn," Tyler cut her off when she was about to ask another question, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Nicky choked on the ice cream. Or her spoon, she wasn't really sure which.

"Wh- what? No, why do you ask?"

"Really? What about that Oliver guy? You seem close."

She wasn't blushing because she liked Oliver, she was blushing because the question was embarrassing and Tyler apparently had no tact. What a waste of looks; the guy was a complete idiot.

"Oliver is my best friend and I've known him since we were three years old, of course we're close."

"Ah, I see. So you don't like him?"

"No! At least not like that! And how do you even know about him?"

"Your mom told me who you hang out with the most, so I would know what to expect. That list wasn't a very long one. Are you unpopular in your school?"

Nicky put her ice cream box down on the coffee table before resettling on the couch

"Not unpopular per se, but I may not have the most friends on campus. I'm on speaking terms with my classmates and I sometimes even lend them my homework."

When she heard no answer she snuck a sideway glance at her nanny and scowled when she noticed him giving her a reprimanding look.

"What?"

"People on "speaking terms" -" He made actual quotation marks with his fingers "Can hardly be called friends."

"Yeah well, then I only have one friend. And right now that's good enough for me."

He gave her the same look as before and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He then spoke again, his tone a lot more serious than before, but still withholding that warmth in it,

"Friends are the most valuable things in this world. Also the most powerful. You should remember that."

Nicky gave him a thoughtful look "What do you mean 'powerful'? What do I need power for? I'm not a superhero." She had meant it to sound like a joke but it came out more frustrated than she had intended. Tyler simply smiled at her, almost sadly, which left her puzzled.

"Anyway, it's getting late. You should go to sleep, you have school tomorrow after all." He smiled

She nodded once and looked at him a few more seconds before rising from her position and heading upstairs, stopping at the foot of the stairs and glancing backwards at her nanny "I'll try and work harder on making friends, alright?"

She wasn't sure why she said it, but she felt like it had been important, not only to him, but to her as well. The grin she received for her words was well worth it.

"Goodnight" She told him, with a small smile of her own

"Goodnight, love. Sleep tight."

O.O.O.O

She slept tight that night, but dreamt horribly. She couldn't remember what the dream had been about, but it left a cold, heavy feeling in her stomach.

After putting on her school uniform and brushing her hair and teeth, Nicky headed downstairs to fix herself up some breakfast.

Once she got downstairs, she was greeted by a wonderful smell and tried to recall the last time she had woken up to served breakfast as she made her way to the kitchen. She wasn't sure when it had been, but it was definitely a long time ago.

As she entered the kitchen she smiled at her new nanny who stood in front of the stove, wearing an apron and making pancakes. He was quickly becoming one of her most favorite persons in the world.

"Good morning" she greeted while walking further into the kitchen and begun preparing the table.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Yup." She wasn't even aware she was lying until after she had said it. It had been an automatic response, like when someone asks you how you've been and you tell them 'fine'.

"That's good. Do you like pancakes?"

"Of course!" He grinned and she smiled back.

This day was going to be awesome.

After having put everything on the table, she sat down at the table and waited for the warm goodness to be served. When Tyler turned around- a dish of pancakes in hand- and saw that she had set the table, he nodded, seeming pleased. His face then paled, "Is that mustard?"

Looking at the jar before her, Nicky nodded, "yup, it's great with pancakes! Have you never tasted it?"

"No… No, I can't say I have…"

He really didn't need to look so openly disgusted…

Soon after, they began eating and settled in a relaxed conversation. During it, Nicky discovered that Tyler was an only child, like herself, and that he was originally from Italy- which explained his good looks- and that his first crush had been a boy. The story following that revelation had been extremely funny and after it, both of them had stomach cramp from laughing too hard.

In exchange, Nicky told him that her favorite subject at school was math- and she noted the look of disgust on her nannies face after telling him that-, her favorite color was gray and that she was a complete klutz with every kind of electronic devices. She didn't know why he wanted to know these things but it seemed to amuse him so she didn't mind.

After having finished their food, both of them begun cleaning up but were interrupted by a knock on the door. Nicky looked at the clock that hung on the kitchen wall and was surprised to see how late it was.

"That must be Oliver."

It was Tyler who said it, not her, which made her give him a surprised look. He merely shrugged in response and said "Go on, get going. You should never leave a man waiting for too long."

She smiled and wiped her hands in a dishcloth before running to the door to let Oliver in.

As soon as she opened the door, she was greeted by a bright smile and like always, couldn't resist smiling back "I'll be out in a minute, ok? Just need to grab my bag upstairs."

"Yeah, sure. Take your time" he replied and stepped inside when Nicky gestured for him to do so, before she jogged up the stairs.

A few moments later she was heading back down, her schoolbag in hand. She was surprised to see Tyler talking to Oliver in the hall where she'd left the latter.

Suddenly a bright blush plastered itself on her childhood friend's face and his hand began flailing around. Her mind flashed back to her conversation with Tyler yesterday, when he had asked her an embarrassing question and hoped Tyler hadn't decided to ask Oliver the same one.

Either way, her friend was obviously uncomfortable and being the good friend she was, hurried down the last of the stairs in order to save him.

Once the two of them spotted her, Oliver sighed in relief while Tyler smiled that bright, white-teethed smile of his, like he hadn't just messed up her friend's blood pressure a few seconds ago.

"Alright, I'm ready to go" She said and shooed Oliver outside the door, following quickly behind him

"Oh, Nicky wait!" her nanny called after her, making her pause and turn around, a questioning look on her face. "Yes?"

He reached out a hand and Nicky looked at it curiously.

In his palm was a silver necklace. The pendant was made of two hands holding a heart surmounted by a crown.

"It's beautiful." she said in awe.

"It's yours."

Nicky's head shot up to look at Tyler in disbelief. He simply smiled and gestured for her to turn around which, after a few seconds of simply staring at him, she did.

He secured the chain around her neck and if she didn't love the necklace before she was mesmerized by it now.

"The hands represent friendship," Tyler began his explanation, "the heart, of course, represents love, and the crown represents loyalty."

She turned around, still looking at the necklace around her neck. "You said you were going to work hard on making friends- I wanted to give you a bit of a power boost. It's a good luck charm." He grinned at her and Nicky could have cried from happiness. She wasn't sure if she had ever gotten such a beautiful present before.

Before she knew it, she had flung her arms around Tyler, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you so much. I love it and I'll take good care of it."

Tyler chuckled and patted her on the head "You're welcome, love."

A few seconds passed before Tyler chuckled again, "If you don't let me go soon, I'm afraid your boyfriend will explode from jealousy."

As if she had been burned, Nicky jerked away from her nanny, but as soon as she realized what he'd said and noticed the mischievous grin on his face, she hit him on the head.

"Idiot."

He simply laughed "Be careful on your way to school, kids!"

And before long, Nicky was at the back of Oliver's bike, waving a goodbye to Tyler who waved back enthusiastically. She couldn't wait to get back home later. Tyler was definitely an awesome guy and she was very thankful to her mother for have gotten him instead of some old hag to keep an eye on her.

"He seems… nice."

Nicky snorted at that. The way he said it had sounded so forced.

"He is. An idiot but very nice all the same." She smiled to herself.

Her smile was wiped off when suddenly the bicycle collided with something else with massive force and she flew off her seat at the impact.

After her vision stopped swimming, the fifteen year old looked up in order to see how Oliver was doing and what the hell they had crashed into.

She looked up just in time to see a brown haired kid raise his head to inspect his own surroundings. In front of him was a bike so he had probably been thrown backwards at the impact himself. Oliver was halfway stuck under his own bike, but seemed to be looking at the kid as well. He didn't seem hurt.

Looking back at the kid, Nicky suddenly noticed a brownish bruise around his left eye. Panicking, she jumped up- ignoring the dizzy spell that hit her at the sudden movement- and rushed over to the kid

"Are you okay? Does it hurt? Did you hit your head? Your eye is bruising, oh God, I'm so sorry-"

Something hit her on the head head, shutting her up. Looking behind her, she saw Oliver standing over her, "idiot, a bruise wouldn't be that quick to form. Besides, that's an old one, you should be able to see that by the color of it."

Looking back at the kid, Nicky saw that her friend was right, the bruise was an old one. "Are you okay, kiddo?" She asked. The boy still hadn't said or done anything.

But apparently his engine suddenly started running, because he bolted up and grabbed his bike "Just wait until I tell my dad about this! You'll be in so much trouble!" He yelled at them before hopping on his bike and left in a rush.

Nicky curled her hands into fists as she glared after the kid "Brat." She spit out, anger evident in her voice.

"Shit!" Nicky's head span around at Oliver's outburst "We're late!" he added.

Completely forgetting about the bratty kid, Nicky's face blanched. It was true that they were already running late when they left her house and now they had wasted even more time.

"Well, hurry up then!" She said as she went over to Oliver who was picking up his bike from the ground.

A few moments later they were speeding through the neighborhood, hoping with all their might that they would get to school before classes started.

* * *

A/N: The funniest thing I researched for this chapter was 'how to activate a chainsaw'.

The more you know!

I found this chapter to be pretty boring, but there were a few important things in it that were needed for the structure if the storyline, so please bear with me.

There are a lot of characters that I can't wait to introduce and it's driving me crazy because I can't just shove them all in there. But hopefully I'll get a small break from school work and be able to write a bunch. At least two more characters will be introduced in the next chapter, so look forward to that!

Oh, by the way, the pendant on the necklace is the claddagh symbol. In case you wanted to google it or something.

Fun fact of the day: The human brain is about 75% water.

-Rexx


	3. Confessions and chaos

"My hero!"

Thunk.

This was the second time that day that Nicky found herself lying on the ground, vision swimming and very confused. And it was only lunchtime.

"Oh my, are you alright? I'm so sorry, I was sure you'd catch me but I guess you're not as strong as I thought-"

Finally, her head stopped spinning and Nicky managed to see who had attacked her. She immediately recognized the beautiful blonde girl from yesterday.

"..But that only makes you more admirable! Even though you're physically weak, you still came to my rescue when I was at my enemies' mercy, oh the bravery!"

And before she knew it she was being hugged by the beautiful blonde girl. Looking around, Nicky realized that everyone in her class were looking at her, as well as Oliver, who until a few moments ago, had been eating lunch with her.

She shot him a questioning look but he only raised his shoulders, clearly not having any clue either as to what the hell was going on. You would have thought that the girl would be swooning over the brunette instead of Nicky because, obviously, Oliver had been the more heroic one at yesterday's incident.

"Kyaah!"

Now, Nicky was not one to scream girlishly. Ever. But there were instances like when she is suddenly being _groped_ that she couldn't resist the girly reflex.

Scurrying away from the blonde girl, Nicky tried her best to glare, but it was very hard when your face was beet red and you were honestly too god damn confused to really be angry.

"You don't look like you have much on you, but you're surprisingly squeezy."

Nicky only managed to stare as the girl made grabbing movements with her hands. She felt like her face was going to explode from the heat. Quickly looking around, she noticed that most, if not all her classmates were blushing as well. This was positively the most embarrassing experience she had ever gone through in her life. And that was saying a lot in her case, a small reminder that only yesterday she had gotten herself stuck in a pet door.

"My name is Amy. Amy Sanders." Apparently, the girl thought this was the perfect time to introduce herself. "I'm in second year, class 3," She raised three fingers to emphasize, "and I'm in love with you." She blushed cutely, but Nicky wasn't fooled. The girl had a loose screw at best, and was most probably a sadist.

Nicky wasn't sure how much time passed before she realized she had yet to say something. She had meant to make more friends, but it certainly hadn't been her intentions to make one of the most beautiful girls of school fall in love with her. How was she even supposed to reply to that confession?

Before she managed to come up with an answer, the school bell rang, indicating that the lunch break was over. The blonde girl -Amy, was it?- blew her a kiss before turning around and leaving the classroom.

A few more seconds passed before the teacher came back and told her to get into her seat, and for Oliver to get his ass back to his own classroom.

O.O.O.O

"Did you know that in a group of 23 people, at least two have the same birthday with the probability greater than ½."

"Can't say I did. Not that I care. Pass the vanilla drops."

Nicky sighed and passed her friend the small bottle. They were currently in the school's culinary facility- the place where Oliver was having his club activities. Since she had nothing better to do, she had decided to wait for him which left her sitting on his counter and trying to uphold a conversation while the brunette was making some kind of cookie dough.

"Hey, why don't you put barbeque sauce in it?"

"Because 1: that sounds disgusting, and 2: the cookies wouldn't work out with extra liquid in them. They wouldn't bake correctly." If Nicky didn't know better she would have thought he was in a bad mood, but actually, whenever he was concentrating on something, his personality would take a flip and he became very blunt and usually mean.

"Hello, Nicky."

Nicky looked up to see the raven haired upperclassman who had addressed her. Her name was Julia Picket and she was something like the president of the culinary club. She was incredibly nice to everyone and everyone loved her for it.

"I see you're here again; why don't you just join the club?" She smiled expectantly at Nicky, hazel eyes sparkling with innocence and youth. Nicky resisted the urge to pat her head.

"You wouldn't want her to join, her taste buds are whacked up. You'd be doing yourself- and everyone else here- a favor by not accepting her."

Who needed best friends anyway?

Julia, however, must have thought Oliver was joking because she giggled cutely and looked back at Nicky, apparently still waiting for an answer. Bless her beautiful heart.

"Ah, actually, I'm too lazy to be in club activities," Nicky laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head "I'd like to have the choice to go straight home after school if I want to, and I couldn't do that if I have any afterschool activities."

"Ah, I see," Julia smiled "but you're welcome any time, in case you change your mind."

"Thanks, Julia. I appreciate it." Nicky tried her best to smile as sweetly as her upperclassmen seemed to find so easy to do, but it was hard to compete with a saint.

"Pass the flour."

Nick glared at Oliver. He had just made a complete fool out of her and even insulted her taste buds and he still had the nerve to boss her around.

"Sure." She replied in an overly sweet tone before sticking her hand in the flour bag and pulling a fistful up. Before Oliver could even register what was taking so long, his face was covered in the white substance and he froze.

Nicky snorted in a very unladylike manner when Oliver blinked dumbly at her. That seemed to give his gears a start because he suddenly had a mixing spoon in his hand, eyeing Nicky dangerously.

A second later, they were running around the school, Nicky trying her best to run for her life while keeping control of her laughing fit and Oliver chasing her with a raised mixing spoon, yelling bloody murder.

A couple of minutes passed before Oliver finally caught up to her, successfully tackling her to the floor, himself landing on top of her.

"Surrender!" He yelled as he pinned her hands to the floor. When had he even gotten rid of the spoon?

"Never!"

"Then face my fury!" Before she knew it, Oliver held her hands in place with only one hand while his other began tickling her.

Laughing and struggling to get away and _breathe_, Nicky still couldn't get it out of her head how _ridiculous _Oliver looked with his face covered in white powder. Which only made her laugh more.

"Mercy! Mercy!" She finally reached her breaking point.

"Then surrender!" Oliver had always been very stubborn.

"No!" Then again, she was the same.

Without giving her an answer in words, he kept tickling her. Nicky was pretty sure she would soon explode if she didn't get any air in her lungs soon and therefore did the only thing she could, pride be damned.

"I give up!"

As soon as she said it, Oliver stopped. Her hands were still pinned to the ground, but she was hardly aware of it as she struggled to breathe.

A few moments later she was still breathing heavily but it seemed like she would make it alive. Although that might be a bit soon to say, because she still didn't know what her punishment was.

It was an old rule with the two of them that whenever one of them surrendered, the other one would think of a punishment. That usually involved some disgusting drinks, or a terrifying dare.

"Name my doom." She grinned up at her childhood friend.

His response was to grin back, but too soon, his amused look disappeared, replaced by one she had rarely seen before. It was surprisingly similar to his embarrassed face, but of course that didn't make much sense.

"Come to the movies with me tonight."

A few seconds passed in silence while he looked almost nervously at her, bright green eyes staring intensely in her own.

The silence, however, was soon disrupted by Nicky's laughter. "That's hardly a punishment."

He seemed to have regained his confidence at that, "you'll be paying."

He smirked as she let out a groan. It was low to attack one's wallet.

"You're a monster." She told him half-jokingly. He only chuckled in response.

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Looking to the direction the sound had come from, Nicky was surprised to see three guys standing there, two looking embarrassed, and the other with an unreadable expression.

"You," The stern looking one pointed at Nicky who by then had scrambled back on her feet, looking extremely embarrassed at the position she had been found in. She didn't dare look at Oliver and see how he was holding up.

"Leader wants to talk to you."

A few seconds passed before Nicky pointed at herself, a questioning look on her face. Did he really have the right person? And Leader? He couldn't be talking about _the _leader, could he?

"What does he want to talk to her about?" Oliver talked for her since she was having trouble voicing her own thoughts.

"It does not concern you. Back off."

"Like hell it doesn't," Nicky finally looked at Oliver. He seemed angry, or maybe just very defensive. She was grateful for that. He also seemed to have wiped the flour off his face, which made him look much more intimidating.

"We're just here to get the girl, so back the fuck off or we're gonna have to make you."

This was getting ugly real fast. Everyone, besides Nicky, had taken up battle stances. She hated fights, down to the very core. She hated when people purposely hurt other people, she hated blood and most of all, she hated the angry feelings bursting out everywhere. They scared her.

"I'll go."

She wasn't aware she had said it until after it had been said. Noticing Oliver giving her a shocked, if not a bit hurt expression made her almost take it back, but she held her tongue. Actually, she forcibly bit down on it to keep herself from saying anything more.

Reaching out to touch Oliver's tense shoulder, she tried to give him her most reassuring smiles. She wasn't sure if it looked more like a smile or a grimace, but hey, at least she tried. She then walked over to the three guys waiting for her.

"Nicky, wait."

She turned around and half-laughed at her best friend, "Oliver, please. We're high schoolers. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

O.O.O.O

"Please take over the group, miss Austin!"

The redhead was actually bowing to her. It scared the crap out of her.

"Wha- What the hell are you talking about?"

The delinquent raised his head to look at her, face flushed for some unknown reason, but amber eyes flaming with passion. "My subordinates have treated you unspeakably crudely and I cannot apologize enough for their behavior,"

He raised his stature back to a full standing one, "Therefore, as an apology and as a token of my gratitude for not telling the authorities-"

Nicky took the liberty to assume that the authorities was the school principal, since she doubted the police would even listen to her story without laughing in her face,

"… I am giving the leadership over to you. I couldn't imagine any person more worthy than yourself and I would be honored if you would agree to look over my boys. They are a rowdy bunch, but good sports, all of them."

Nicky waited for a while to make sure that the guy definitely had nothing more to say. Then she waited a while longer because she had no idea how to reply to that. Take over the group of delinquents? Was the guy crazy? Well, the rumors certainly said he was crazy, but this! This was a whole new level of crazy.

"…What?"

"please take over-"

"Yeah, no, I got that. I meant _what?_"

The redhead looked confused. She would welcome him to the club if she would have been able to see the humor in this situation.

"…Please take over the group…?" This time you could hear evident confusion in his voice.

"No."

As soon as she had declined, she realized how rude it had sounded and immediately tried to explain. Hopefully she would be able to pound some god damn sense into the guy while she was at it,

"What I mean is that I hate violence. I'm a coward, if you want to put it that way. Which is why you most definitely should not make me the leader of your… your… group."

There was a brief pause in which Nicky hoped that the guy would see how ridiculous his request was and would change his mind. She just hoped he wouldn't get mad for having somehow been disillusioned about her abilities.

"You are… very honest."

He was taking this better than she thought he would.

"I admire that. Indeed, you are the only one compatible enough to take over my position as a leader."

Nicky would have facepalmed if she wasn't too scared of the redhead wacko in front of her.

"Listen, I'm flattered. Really, I am, but I have to decline, I can't be the leader." _Good job Nicky, polite but determined,_ she complimented herself.

"I must insist!"

Goddamn that guy, he was more stubborn than Oliver and herself combined.

"I refuse."

"I refuse your refusal."

Nicky blinked at that. "I refuse your refusing of my refusal."

"I refuse your refusal of my refusing your refusal."

"I…" Her head was spinning. She was good at math but mind games were not her strong suit, "I really think you would do a lot better job than I would ever manage. Why can't you just do it?"

"The boys no longer listen to my orders and therefore I am unfit to be their leader."

Now, that was a surprise. But certainly not enough to make her lose her focus. "And you think they would listen to me more; a first year girl who's terrified of violence?"

"I think you would be a great role model for them and a great influence for them to take a wiser path in life. And if they refuse to follow your orders, then I will order them to follow them."

"…"

_You idiot, you just said they no longer listened to you!_

It took all she had not to pull at her hair. Talking to this guy was like a chasing your own shadow. You could run for miles but still not get any closer to your goal.

"I don't want to do it."

"I'm not letting you out of this room until you agree."

Speaking of which, how did the delinquents get a whole classroom all to themselves? They weren't even an official club.

But this might really become a problem. Nicky wasn't sure how long she had been in there but she was sure the time was around five in the afternoon when she had left to talk to Kyle. She wanted to quickly go home, meet Tyler and then get ready for the evening, physically and mentally, because going to the movies was _expensive_! And she was paying for two, damn it!

"I can't even lead my own life correctly, how am I supposed to lead a whole group?"

The bastard only crossed his hands, mouth set in a firm line.

"I don't… Oh, to hell with it- alright, already!"

"Really? I mean, great!" He looked so happy, Nicky almost thought her acceptance was worth it. Almost.

"But on one condition."

His cheerful face was immediately replaced by an apprehensive one.

"You will be my right hand man and manage the bunch for me." Why hadn't she thought of this before? This was genius! This way, things would appear as nothing had changed; she wouldn't have to have anything to do with the group and Kyle would leave her alone.

The redhead rubbed his index finger under his nose, looking a bit tearful. But he couldn't be. After all, he was _Kyle Arch_. The number one ruthless badass of the whole school.

"If that is what you wish, then I would be honored to comply. I will be your most loyal subordinate," He actually saluted, "If there is anything you ever need my help with, you let me know and I'll come running, day or night!"

Nicky must have been getting tired, because right then, she was touched by his words and the honesty in them. He seemed like an alright guy. Sure, he was stubborn as hell, but so were a lot of people. She could live with stubbornness.

"Alright, then. I'll trust you to keep them in line…. Uh…" She just remembered that so far she hadn't called him anything out loud yet, and therefore had no idea how to address him. Thankfully, the redhead caught on, "Just call me Kyle, please."

She smiled at him "Then, please call me Nicky."

He grinned brightly and nodded.

Taking that as her cue to leave, Nicky turned around and headed for the door, calling a 'see you' behind her shoulder before she was completely aware of it.

A couple of seconds later she was out of the room and breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't realized how tense she had been until then.

"Nicky!" She raised her head and was surprised to see Oliver being held off by two delinquent looking guys. He must have been so worried and Nicky almost felt bad for not having been in any danger. Then again, how was she supposed to know that Kyle really only wanted to talk?

"Are you okay? What happened?" He sounded so frantic and worried it warmed her heart seeing that he cared so much.

"I'm fine" she said as she walked past the guys who were with Oliver, grabbing her friend's arm and pulling him along with her as she headed for the school exit. She had had enough of this building for the time being. Good thing it was Friday and so she could have the whole weekend to get over the day's incidents.

She didn't stop until they were on the school grounds and that's when she let go of Oliver's arm so he could unlock his bike and they could get the hell out of there. She noticed from the corner of her eye that her best friend was about to say something but for some reason- and thank God- he closed his mouth and turned to unlock his bicycle.

A few minutes later they were speeding through the neighborhood in a comfortable silence. Nicky let herself relax and rested her head on Oliver's back. She was exhausted.

A few moments later, Nicky deemed them far enough away from school and relatively safe from any redheaded, delinquent wackos.

"He told me to take over his group."

"What?"

"Kyle. He said I should take over his group. Or more like demanded it."

The bike screeched to a halt and Nicky would have flown off if she hadn't been quick enough to grab onto Oliver. Whoever invented instinctive reflexes had her thanks.

"He what?!" Oliver hissed out and Nicky was surprised to see the fury in his eyes."Why?"

Nicky carefully let go of him and stepped off the bicycle. It didn't seem like he was going to go any further until he got the full story.

"I've no idea. Something about an apology and token of gratitude or whatnot. He was confusing to talk to."

"You declined, right?"

Nicky looked away nervously, finding it hard to stay under that intense gaze, "He was… Rather insistent."

Oliver gawked at her. He looked so stupid like that, Nicky would have laughed if she didn't know he was as angry as he was. "You accepted?!"

"What the hell was I supposed to do?!"

"Decline! Say no! Refuse! Or, I don't know, call for help?!" He sounded so _furious_.

She wasn't sure when Oliver had stepped off the bike as well and neither did she care because Oliver wasn't being very understanding at the moment and she was too confused and irritated to notice small details.

"He wasn't being rude or violent so I didn't want to be either!"

"So you just agreed to take over a group of delinquents? Now that's fucking genius!"

Nicky stared in shock at her childhood friend. He hadn't cussed in years, at least not in her presence. She didn't understand why he was so angry, either.

"I didn't just agree to it without arguing about it, he simply wouldn't let it go! He wouldn't let me leave and I wanted to go home already!

Besides, I gave the management over to him, so it's basically off my hands."

That shut him up. That was, until he blew up

"So you not only took over his group, you also decided to trust him enough with managing it? Since when did you become such great buddies?"

She had just about had enough. "That's it! You're impossible to talk to!" She turned around and began walking down the street.

"Where the hell are you going?"

She turned back to him, "I'm walking home! And you can go to the movies alone, you jerk!"

"Like I'd want to go with you anyway!"

She would like to say that she gave out a frustrated growl but it came out more like a shriek. She then turned around once again and stormed off.

O.O.O.O

The door slammed shut behind her. She was furious! She didn't do anything wrong and Oliver had been completely unfair! Just thinking about it made her growl in annoyance.

"Hello?" She called in a rather irritated tone of voice, remembering her nanny. The door had been unlocked so he should be at home, unless he was afraid she might have forgotten her keys again and therefore left it unlocked.

"Tyler?" She searched the first floor until she was convinced that he really wasn't there before heading upstairs to change out of her school uniform.

Once she had changed into comfortable grey sweatpants and a navy blue, long sleeve shirt, she opened her bedroom door and headed for the kitchen. Once there, she began the process of making eggplant salad with cheese and ketchup. Although it was delicious, she was still in a bad mood once she was finished.

After cleaning up after her meal, Nicky decided to watch a movie to get her mind off all annoying thoughts. There weren't many things that topped a cozy Friday afternoon when watching a movie on the couch under a blanket.

Already feeling better at the thought, she jogged upstairs again to pick a movie from her collection that she kept in her shelf which was initially meant for books. Since she never really did much reading, it quickly turned into a movie collection.

Once she made it to the top of the stairs, however, she was interrupted from her thoughts by a small clatter coming from the direction of the guest room.

She was startled at first but then realized that she had never checked the upper floor earlier, which was pretty stupid, especially seeing as the guestroom Tyler was currently staying at was there. He must have been taking an afternoon nap and then fallen out of bed. Snickering at the thought, Nicky bounced over to the room at the farthest end of the hallway.

She knocked a few times on the door and waited for a reply.

A few seconds passed but there was no reply. Growing slightly worried, she reached for the doorknob.

"Tyler?"

She slowly opened the door, hesitant because she didn't want to intrude but she still had to be sure that her nanny was okay.

Once the door had been opened far enough for her to view the whole room, Nicky froze.

It took her a while to register what she was seeing because no matter what images had crossed through her mind before opening the door, nothing had been quite as disturbing as what she now saw.

The whole room was in complete chaos. The bed lay on its side at the opposite wall of where it used to be, like it had been picked up and thrown across the room. The window opposite of where Nicky was standing was broken, glass shattered all around the floor.

The purple, tattered curtains flew inside the room, as if in a tug of war with the wind and the curtain rod that held onto them. They flung around from the pressure of the wind which Nicky hadn't realized had become so fierce, appearing like they were in a desperate struggle to escape.

Nicky shuddered. Whether it was from the thought or the wind, she wasn't sure.

She hadn't realized she had walked into the room until she heard the sound of something breaking. Looking down from where she had heard the sound, she noticed she had stepped on a piece of broken glass which had shattered from her weight.

As she was in much shock, the pain didn't register but the sight of blood slowly covering the floor around her got her attention in check.

Before she knew it she was panicking. Breath came in short gasps and her eyes darted around the room in complete helplessness.

What should she do? What happened? How should she stop her bleeding? Where was Tyler? Why hadn't she heard anything until now?

Her thoughts were a mess and her worry for Tyler only rose the more she thought about it.

A few more seconds passed before she got most of her thoughts under control, deciding on calling her mom with the emergency phone number she had given her. Hopefully she would know what to do.

As soon as she spun around, however, a startled yelp escaped her lips.

In front of her stood a man dressed in black from top to bottom, his clothes including a tuxedo, fedora hat, dress shoes and leather gloves.

Yet again, Nicky found herself frozen in place and watched in horror as the man slowly closed the door, olive green eyes locked on her while doing so.

It was so eerily quiet while Nicky fought to control her heart beat back to a healthy speed. It wasn't until the door clicked shut and the man took a step forward that she realized the danger she was in and that she needed to get out of there.

But there was nowhere for her to run.

* * *

A/N: This chapter was no joke to write.

Well, sometimes it was. But anyway, I had to erase so much content so many times because I wasn't happy with the outcome until I finally decided on this.

Tada!

Hope you guys enjoyed reading it and I would really appreciate your feedback; I know I can improve on so many things but I can't do it unless I know what it is.

By the way, one of the first thing that was supposed to be revealed about Nicky's character was her damaged taste buds, but recently I've been thinking that I'm not getting it through. When you think about it, a sandwich with cheese, jam and bananas sounds pretty okay. I could go without the chicken, though.

Anyway, if you have any suggestions for horrible food combinations that you would like to see Nicky eat, please tell me about it and I might include it in one of the chapters.

I think that's about it. Thanks for reading!

Fun fact of the day (There already is one in this chapter, but for the sake of tradition): Over 1,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.

-Rexx


End file.
